


Lover's Body

by Copperdale (HDO)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Trigger Warning: Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-18
Updated: 2014-01-18
Packaged: 2018-01-09 03:22:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1140836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HDO/pseuds/Copperdale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Your cheekbones were the same,<br/>The ones I used to peck with my lips<br/>I would rub the light oils of your skin between them afterwards</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lover's Body

**Author's Note:**

> For James.

Did you know that your heart weighed 400 grams?  
They cut it out of you and dissected it, took notes  
That tell us they don’t know why you died  
The same heart that I used to listen go thump-thump  
When I lay my head on your chest

Your cheekbones were the same,  
The ones I used to peck with my lips  
I would rub the light oils of your skin between them afterwards  
If I had tried it then, I would have gotten nothing but makeup,  
Too light and smeared thick to the line of your crew cut

But the same plush lips that I used to kiss hello, goodnight, goodbye  
Were all wrong  
They were puckered strangely  
And stained a bright berry color  
I asked you once if you had ever been curious about makeup,  
And you had said absolutely not

I touched your hand, covered in white uniform gloves  
A pretense made meaningless when it’s done for you  
The same hand that touched me until I cried out,  
Was rigid, like it would break off if I tried to hold it  
Made me flinch away

As your casket was lowered into the ground,  
Your mother spoke to you in Mandarin,  
Desperately acknowledging your humanity as it was being denied  
I could only watch on mutely  
You’re not a doll,  
Stuffed in a shoebox and shoved under the bed  
What is this madness?

The next day, I ate something that tasted like the smell around your casket  
Was it the smell of the formaldehyde they pumped into you?  
Or the candles they burned around you,  
To perfume the air, cover up the smell?  
In that moment, I wanted to throw up

They took my lover’s body away  
And there was nothing I could do about it.


End file.
